Randy Meyers — The Morning Journal
Lorain’s Devon Grant shoots in between North Ridgeville’s Mike Richmond, left, and Tyler Cadle during the first quarter.

Taevon Pierre-Louis scored a season-high 31 points and top-seeded Lorain dominated North Ridgeville, 68-31, on March 3 in a Division I Elyria District sectional final.

Pierre-Louis single-handedly matched No. 8 North Ridgeville’s total points and chipped in 13 rebounds, including eight offensive boards, as the 6-foot-6 forward dominated down low while the Rangers came up with no answers.

“It’s a team thing. We try to get everyone involved, but me personally, I knew no one could match up with me,” Pierre-Louis said. “My height, my weight, I had an advantage so I took it.”

Lorain (18-5) was still able to get eight players involved in the scoring, including three freshman — Kameron Thomas, Jaevon Manning, and De’Vante Jackson — who earned valuable minutes in the second half. Thomas entered the game near the end of the third quarter and scored six of the Titans’ eight points over the last minute and a half heading into the fourth.

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“He came in right away and you’d never know he was a freshman,” Lorain coach John Rositano said. “He’s used to playing with us and against us in practice ... and did a great job coming off the bench and helping us tonight.”

But as high-powered as the Titans’ offense became, it was once again their defensive pressure that stunned North Ridgeville (12-12).

The Rangers were simply not used to anything Lorain threw at them, and though they handled the pressure initially, were simply worn down as the game progressed.

As the Titans maintained pressure, North Ridgeville’s offensive woes became more and more critical. The Rangers shot 12-of-35 from the field for the game and Lorain County D-I Player of the Year, M.J. Smith, was held to 14 points and the only player to score in double digits for North Ridgeville. He averaged 19.6 on the season.

“Team’s have tried to face guard M.J. in the past but a lot of teams don’t have the athletes Lorain does to really limit him to get the touches,” North Ridgeville coach Bryan Morgan said. “He was frustrated tonight and he needed some help from his teammates and unfortunately those shots didn’t go in. ... We were just outmatched and the better team won.”

Both team’s main offensive weapons were held below their season averages as Lorain’s Devon Grant, who averaged 20.4 points per game during the regular season, had 13 points in the sectional final, but where North Ridgeville lacked the support on offense, Lorain had more than enough help to go around.

“There was a little rust there, we missed a couple shots around the basket, but when you’re playing defense like that it allows you to have a couple dry spells offensively,” Rositano said. “We’re moving forward with our defense and that’s what we emphasize and that’s what we do.

“When people think of Lorain they think of the dunks, the runs, but our half-court defense is what separates us from a lot teams and I thought we played really good half-court defense. We took a really good player in M.J. Smith and took him out of the game. He struggled because I thought we did a good job putting a guy and a half on him and making other guys do things that they probably don’t normally do.”

The Titans advance to face No. 4 Midview on March 7 in a district semifinal at Elyria Catholic.